Former Silk Road Vendor Sentenced to Six Years in Berlin

According to the spokesperson for the Berlin criminal court system, the Berlin district court sentenced a darknet drug trafficker and two accomplices to six years in prison, three years in prison, and a suspended sentence. The primary suspect, a 43-year-old Japanese man living in Berlin named Ryo Y., had been selling drugs on the darknet as early as November 2012. He sold as “moramaru” on Silk Road, on Alphabay, on Dream, and even on Hansa. After his 2017 arrest, the police seized more than one million euros from Ryo Y. alone.

Ryo sold by himself, initially. Between November 2012 and October 2013, Ryo sold 32 kilograms of cannabis, 1.6 kilos of MDMA, and 385 grams of cocaine. The investigators said the sales totalled 639,863.66 euros. He told the courts that he had used drugs heavily from age 18 onwards. According to his statement, during his average day, he snorted 4-5 grams of cocaine, smoked 20 joints, and swallowed 15 ecstasy pills. Months ago, an Australian kid told a judge that he used four ecstasy pills every day and managed to avoid a prison sentence. (Ecstasy picture from a Reddit review of moramaru’s Ecstasy by a deleted user account.)

Ryo received a prison sentence of six years. He must also spend time in rehab. And possibly worst of all, Berlin’s judicial fund now holds more than one million euros that once belonged to Ryo.

In 2015, Ryo started working with Sayuri. He supplied the drugs and managed the “moramaru” and “3M” vendor accounts. Sayuri packed the drugs and shipped them to the addresses of customers provided to her by Ryo. Investigators said that she shipped 120 packages every week and earned 100 euros every day. She said that she helped sell for several reasons. Her depression was one. And the cost of living was another. “Luxurious duplex apartments and expensive furniture were a must” if she planned to “keep up” with her friends and her neighbors.

The court sentenced Sayuri to three years and three months in prison. In addition, they charged her a fee of 10,000 euros.

The third defendant, called “Defendant H.” in the press release,” worked with Sayuri, investigators said. H. had moved to Berlin not long before the April 2017 raid that ended the group’s operation. According to testimonies heard in court, H. worked internationally as an IT admin. His true profession remains unclear. However, during the raid, H. admitted that he had laundered money for Ryo. The police located a safe inside his family home that contained 109,000 euros. The euros belonged to Ryo. They now belong to Berlin.

With his relatively minor role as a money launderer and his immediate cooperation with law enforcement in mind, the court gave H. a suspended sentence of 19 months on probation. His wife and son allegedly fled the country and headed for Japan, but German authorities will not be seeking prosecution, rbb24 wrote.